Hinduism:The Paths To God And Yoga

Psychology seems to have found some connections to Hinduism in its’ more vague or unexplained parts. Smith suggests, in his book "The World's Religions", that Hinduism accounts for the part of the brain whose function is not understood. This section contains knowledge of the infinite, connecting you in the brief period that is your life to the whole of your continued existence. This idea, along with the constance of death, happening to a part of you every moment, holds powerful truth.

Continuing on the subject of psychology, it was interesting to learn that Carl Jung based his analysis of personality types on the four spiritual identities that people adopt by Hinduism: reflective, emotional, active, and experimentally inclined. In the discussion of yoga as a path to connect to God, this personality type should influence how you personalize your search for the divine within you, with a certain path being more effective than others according to your inclinations.

The first is the path to god through Knowledge. The most difficult step of this path seems to be the final one: driving a wedge between the Atman and your physical identity, by visualizing yourself from a distance and thus separating yourself from your body as a spirit. The Second path is through Love, directing towards God the “love that lies at the base of every heart” (32). This love must be directed outwards, for love of oneself is not effective, nor as clear, as love for others. Third is the path to God through work. The drive for this is psychological, not economic, and one achieves self-transcendence from the selflessness of performing actions for others, regardless of personal cost. The last path, for the experimentally inclined, is the path of psychophysical exercises.


...